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The Official LUCY ON BLU-RAY Thread!


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TJW,

 

The colorized Christmas episode was very well received!

 

I'm so happy & glad to hear that you have discussed "colorized episodes"! 

 

What are the chances of there being another special this year, with a different colorized episode?  I know the original "LA at Last" colorization was done sone long ago, and doesn't hold up to today's stantards, but is it definitely in the top five to re-ccolorize? 

 

On December 10, 1990, CBS aired The "I Love Lucy" Christmas Show, as a prime time special. The network decided to colorize the "wrap-around" scenes/segments, from the Christmas Show.

 

On Friday, December 20, 2013, (8:00-9:00 PM, ET/PT), The CBS Television Network aired The "I Love Lucy" Christmas Show, as a prime time special. The network decided to update, revise and re-colorize the "wrap-around" scenes/segments, from the Christmas Show.

 

Do you think they'll do the same with "LA at Last," and/or any other "I Love Lucy" episode(s), either as a prime time special, and/or DVD release? 

 

If you don't mind my asking, and you don't mind telling me, just out of curiosity, what episodes are in the top five to colorize, should anymore colorization's be done? Thanks for your reply, TJW! 

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Personally, I think we have more than enough spectacular new features to enjoy for now without immediately clamoring for more. Let's enjoy this new set for what it is while awaiting the future seasons. Clearly, colorization isn't a goal for this first wave of blu-ray sets, so let's just wipe that off the table for now. We'll cross that bridge when the time comes.

 

The fact that there were additional materials to be included at all simply astounds me, and it's hard to think of a more comprehensive collection than what we've been presented with. Our gratitude should know no bounds!

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To TJW,

 

Do you think that CBS will colorize the first christmas episode of The Lucy Show (1962) and air it in primetime along with the color episode made in 1965.  These episodes are great and I bet they would get good ratings.  Will CBS be putting out a special box set of The Lucy Show with a bonues DVD disc like they did with the I Love Lucy box set.  Also, do you think the first season of The Lucy Show will eventually be colorized.  I Love Lucy but I also love The Lucy Show.

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To TJW,

 

Do you think that CBS will colorize the first christmas episode of The Lucy Show (1962) and air it in primetime along with the color episode made in 1965.  These episodes are great and I bet they would get good ratings.  Will CBS be putting out a special box set of The Lucy Show with a bonues DVD disc like they did with the I Love Lucy box set.  Also, do you think the first season of The Lucy Show will eventually be colorized.  I Love Lucy but I also love The Lucy Show.

 

At the moment, I think the answer is "no" to all of the above.  While we all love "The Lucy Show," I do not think the series has a big enough following with the general public to warrant spending all the money involved with colorizing that first-season Christmas episode. Also, there are no plans to release a "Lucy Show" full-series set... Sorry!

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THE BLU RAY SET IS MAGNIFICENT! my review is coming soon! Im sure all of Desilu would be so proud! Its decorated with so many extras, and visuals and footage and tid bits that collectively make this the ultimate set- its a  must-have. I like the cover too! It pops! Any consideration for another artist to contribute to the fun of the other Lucy projects to come!?!?! LOL. I had to put in a plug lol Watching this though was very very nice- NOT ONE disappointment and its been worth every penny.

Also-I have SUCH an appreciation for the little stick figures of the show now lol seeing they were the OFFICIAL openers and spokespersons for the show, rather than the heart shape, ribbon font and satin that we always associate with the show.

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Personally, I think we have more than enough spectacular new features to enjoy for now without immediately clamoring for more. Let's enjoy this new set for what it is while awaiting the future seasons. Clearly, colorization isn't a goal for this first wave of blu-ray sets, so let's just wipe that off the table for now. We'll cross that bridge when the time comes.

 

The fact that there were additional materials to be included at all simply astounds me, and it's hard to think of a more comprehensive collection than what we've been presented with. Our gratitude should know no bounds!

Bravo, Brian! Couldn't have said everything you touched on any better myself!!! :peachonthebeach:

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I have SUCH an appreciation for the little stick figures of the show now lol seeing they were the OFFICIAL openers and spokes persons for the show, rather than the heart shape, ribbon font and satin that we always associate with the show.

 

Yes, the stick figures were very much a part of the show, right up through the last of the Lucy-Desi hour specials... For many of us, it was a great disappointment when they disappeared in the rerun series... Which is why when THE LUCY SHOW premiered in 1962, Desilu made sure the program opened with new Lucy and Viv animated figures. They were kinda reassuring that "Lucy is back"...

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For the past 20-30 years or so, most all syndicated programs, including I LOVE LUCY, are distributed on video tape. These have been pre-edited by the distributor to meet a fairly standardized run time...

 

But "back in the day," in the 1960s and '70s, when LUCY was first put into syndication, the shows were distributed to stations on 16mm films. Every station received a full show, and it was up to the local station to edit it down to meet the needs of that station. Consequently, not every station aired the exact same show.  I remember being delightfully surprised traveling to a different city and seeing scenes that the station in my area had always deleted...

When a local station started running The Lucy Show, it was great to see the scenes and lines CBS deleted for their morning edit.  (Also great to see the original opening credits of each season).  I knew these shows very well, having audio recorded a lot of them.   For instance, the entire first scene of "Locked In Vault" where Lucy and Viv are discussing the car repair is deleted.  Lucy references the need for the $50 in her (first!) conversation with Mr. Mooney.  Also, the opening scene in "Danny Thomas" where Mooney gives her the part-time job at the bank was cut.  Someone at NickatNite was asleep at the switch--though their heart was in the right place-- when they chose to run this episode the night of Gale Gordon's death in 1995 as part of a tribute to him.  Probably looked at the plot synopsis and didn't realize their edited version (from CBS) cut Mooney out of the episode entirely!

And speaking of ham-handed 16mm editing:  I feel the need to trot out this story every once in a while.  Our local station brought back I Love Lucy in the late 70s with great hoopla because we hadn't seen I Love Lucy here for 10 years; and scheduled it for the prime 7pm slot.  Instead of thoughtful editing, they would just cut however minutes they wanted off the beginning of each episode.  "Scotland" began with the mayor was in MID-song.  They didn't even bother to start the song from the beginning.  I Love Lucy scripts would sometimes start out with some conversation that would be key to the logic of something that happened later.  The most infamous example is the strawberry allergy in Talullah.

 

Sometimes a station bought a program and they would get the entire series on 16mm.  But sometimes the films were cycled.  One station would do their own edits, splice the film back together and send it to the next station, who would do their own cutting, and so on.  It wasn't long before the films were choppy.  The distributors--and the stations-- didn't seem to care.  It took a lot for them to strike new prints.  You'd think that the idea of trimming the films specifically for syndication running time would have happened earlier, since the syndication market was so lucrative.  When Here's Lucy went into syndication in 1981, they were delivered pre-trimmed.  And I assume these were not the CBS brief morning run cuts.  Was this a first?

 

Were there rules that governed how much commercial time a station could put into a half hour?  I assume these were FCC rules and commercial time varied by the time of day and night.  So if a local station decided to run I Love Lucy in prime time (8pm to 11pm) were the chances of getting the whole show greater?  It's amazing to be that a governmental agency would get involved in something like this.  They're obviously NOT any more.

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Were there rules that governed how much commercial time a station could put into a half hour?  I assume these were FCC rules and commercial time varied by the time of day and night.  So if a local station decided to run I Love Lucy in prime time (8pm to 11pm) were the chances of getting the whole show greater?  It's amazing to be that a governmental agency would get involved in something like this.  They're obviously NOT any more.

 

Exactly.  Until the past decade or so, the FCC and National Association of Broadcasters had certain rules about the amount of advertising that could be placed in a show, and that varied with the time-of-day.  Prime evening time could only have 3 to 3.5  minutes of ads per half-hour, while the daytime hours (6am-6pm) could have 6-7 minutes per half-hour... Hence, when I LOVE LUCY went into daytime, the show ran approx. 22 minutes... The rules were more lax during the over-night hours (12M to 6AM), which is why the late-night movies that the local stations once ran were filled with commercials...

 

I believe the rules were relaxed in the late 1980s/early 1990s, and now we have primetime shows that have 15 "non-program" minutes in every hour!

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Exactly.  Until the past decade or so, the FCC and National Association of Broadcasters had certain rules about the amount of advertising that could be placed in a show, and that varied with the time-of-day.  Prime evening time could only have 3 to 3.5  minutes of ads per half-hour, while the daytime hours (6am-6pm) could have 6-7 minutes per half-hour... Hence, when I LOVE LUCY went into daytime, the show ran approx. 22 minutes... The rules were more lax during the over-night hours (12M to 6AM), which is why the late-night movies that the local stations once ran were filled with commercials...

 

I believe the rules were relaxed in the late 1980s/early 1990s, and now we have primetime shows that have 15 "non-program" minutes in every hour!

...and that's being "generous"! Last time I "stopwatched" a couple of shows because it seems anymore as if the ads run longer than the actual program I came up with just about 20 minutes for standard 30 minute fare (sitcoms, game shows, etc.) and about 42 minutes -- barely! -- for hour-long programs.  

 

I get that they have to sell ads to keep this stuff on the air but there should be a line drawn somewhere!!!  :lucyhorror:

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  • 3 weeks later...
  • 3 weeks later...

Im such a MORON lolol-IM ONLY NOW realizing something lol-  I was looking at the beautifully remastered show while rearranging the furniture for the summah lol and After a few episodes went by, I noticed the show was not as cut in the original versions as I had thought- with commercials placed within the scenes- I notice that the show was basically presented on the air for the first time in two solid acts, with one commercial in between and one at the end?

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